Liquid-level gauge



E. F. PIERCE LIQUID LEVEL GAUGE March 20',

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26. 1925 March 20, 192s.

E. F. PIERCE LIQUID LEVEL GAUGE Filed Sept. 26. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lI l I March 2o,v192& 1,663,484

- E. F. PIERCE LIQUID LEVEL GAUGE FiledSept. 26. 1925 s Sheets- Sheet s2 10 62 60 64 V I ing hada-to. the accompanying; drawings,-v in PatentedMar. 20, 1928.

EARL r. PIERCE, on wmmimm rmnors cnnrm rausrcomamxorrumors ADMINISTRATORonsAIn EARL F; PIERCE, nncmsnn; ASSIGNOR'TO monuments.

PIERCE.

cmeum-Lnvnnlonueni Application filed September 26; 1925; serial Nb.58,858.

My invention relates to improvements in gauges and is particularlyconcerned with improvements in gauges-wfor use on automotive vehiclesfor indicating the amount of fuel in thefuel Stank.

Theobijects of my present inventionare: First, to v,provide a novelgauge in WhICh,

there isa minimum amount of resistance between-the moving parts oi themechanismand the other relatively stationary parts,

level actuated means in the fuel tank andtherindicatingmeans is asshortastpossible;

v Fourth, to provide; a gauge in which opticaltmea-ns are employed toenable; the driver of the-vehicle to see the indications at the rearthereof withoutturning to look backwards g V V r Fifth, to provide agauge comprising indicating ineans that. can be observed rom theinterior or exterior of the-car with'tequal nomicalrtomanufacture andnotllialile-ito get out of order; a 7

Other ohjectsof my inventionwill appear as this description progressesreference be? which: I v c Figure 1 is a side elevation ofanautomo-i'bile equipped With my invention FigureQ is a. vertical, transversesection taken-onitheiline 22of Eig.I3I;.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 ot Figure 2, none,ofthe gearing beingshown in section; i

FigureS is a similar vertical. section, on an enlargedscale, iaslltpartson shafti37fbeing shown infsection.

Figuree IS a more or less dlagrammatic view showingthe relativepositions of thelevel indicating means and the indicator acmating-means;

Fignreyfris' 'a section; on an enlarged seale, takenon line 5';5 ofF-igure3; Y

Figure-"6 is a view somewhat similar'to Eignret tbut showing *a-modifiedform of my invention,

Figure'7 is a longitudinal section on the line 7 7.of Figure 6;

F lgurer 8iis a diagrammatic viewindicating,fs'clieinatically, anotherembodiment of inyzinve'nt-ion gurer'9"is a View, partially in elevationandpartially "in section, ofanoth'er embodimentofmy' invention; and

Figu e 1o is 1:1" verti cal' section on the line 10 10'offF igure-9:

Through'outx'tlie several views similar ref erence" characters are usedfor referring to I similar-parts and the several sectional views aretaken. looking in the directions of the small arrowsiused" in connectionwith the section lines A Most of the dashgauges for indicating the levelofthe'ffuel in thefuel tankof an automobile that are in: usertodaycomprise a Bowdem cable that" extends from the rear fuel tankto theindicating means on 'the dashboard of the automobile; Due-*to-the factthat. tliiscable is comparatively long and that it contains several moreor less abrupt. curves, the-friction between the sta tionary part of thecable ,and the movable element is considerable. This friction in--creases tlieageofthe. car until; as-isgenerally the-"case, the gaueceases entirely to operate; One offlthe'o jects of my invention is; asstated above, toreduce this friction to' a" minimum and to soconstructoperator of the car and the attendant at the filling station can observethe quantity of fuel in the tank. With my present invention one gaugeperforms both of these functions because it can be seen with equalfacility by the operator of the car and by the at tendant filling thetank.

In the embodiment of my invention disclosed in Figure l I haveillustrated an automobile comprising the body having the front seat 21,the top 22 provided with a rear window 23, and a rear view mirror 24mounted upon the windshield. At 25 is in dicated the fuel tank which ispositioned substantially directly below the rear window 23.

A perforated tube 26 is secured in the fuel tank at substantially its.middle point and extends upwardly through the top side of the fuel tank,as shown in Figure 4. The upper end of the tube is provided with a cap2'? with which is connected the lower end of the small tube 28. A cable29, which should be quite flexible, has one end secured to a float 30,of suitable construction, that slides in the perforated tube 26 andmaintains a level substantially the same as the level of the fuel in thetank 25.

The tube 28 is preferably positioned between the rear end wall 31 of theautomobile body and the upholstery of therear seat 32 and connects withthe lower, reduced end the fuel tank, there Wlll be practically noportion 33 of the housing 33 for the indicator mechanism This housingmay be securedto the lower rail 34 of the rear window by means of screws35, or in any othersuitable manner, and contains mechanism for reducingthe movement imparted from the float before it is communicated to theindicating means proper. This reducing mechanism comprises, the groovepulley 36 upon which the cable 29 can wind. This pulley is rotatablymounted upon the shaft 37 which has one end 38 rigidly secured in thecover 38 of the housing. A spiral spring 39 is housed in the pulley 36and has one end secured to the shaft 37. The other end of the spring issecured to the rim of the pulley by means of a rivet 40 (see Figureo) orin any other desired manner.

A pinion 41 is formed integrally with, or otherwise rigidly secured to,the pulley 36 and both the pulley and the pinion 41 are rotatablymounted upon the shaft 37. The pinion 41 meshes with a gear 42 rigidlysecured upon the shaft 43. The latter is reneeaaee tatably mounted inopposite walls of the housing and has rigidly mounted thereon the pinion44. This pinion meshes with the gear 45. This gear is rotatably mountedupon the shaft 37 and has a hub 46 that extends outwardly through onewall of the housing and carries the pointer, or indicator, 47.Preferably, this pointer is providedwith a rounded head 47.

From the above description it will be apparent that the movementimparted by the float 30 can be so reduced as to cause the pointer, orindicator, 47 to make one half of a revolution while the float 30 ismoving from the top to the bottom of the fuel tank, or vice versa.Suitable indicia may. be placed upon the rear window to enabletheoperator to determine the level of the fuel in the tank. It will, ofcourse, be understood that as the float rises, the spring 39 will turnthe pulley 36 in a proper direction to't'ake up the slack in the cable29, but this spring does not have sufficient tension to lift the floatfrom the surface of the fuel. The float will, of course, have sufficientweight to tension the spring 39- as the float descends in the tank. Thepurpose of the perforated tube 26 is to act as a guide for. the float 30and further to maintain a body of quiescent fuel having a level that issubstantiallythe average level of' the fuel in the tank 25.

The operator, by looking into the rear vision -mirror 24,"can readilyperceive the position of the indicator head 47 and thus determine thequantity of fuel in the tank,

' and an attendant filling the tank can look through the rear window andsimilarly dcterm-ine how full the tank is. By reason of the fact that inmany automobiles the indicator will be positioned almost directly overcurve in the tube 28andthe frictional resistance to the movement of thecable 29 will, therefore, be reduced to a minimum.

In that embodiment of my invention shown in Figures 6 and 7 thereduction mechanism is located in the hollow extension 27 of the cap 27and comprises two pul leys 48 and 49, respectively, rigidly connect edtogether and mounted upon the shaft 50 that extends transversely of thehousing extension 27. A cable 29 connects the float 80 with the pulley.48 and a second cable 29 connects the small pulley 49 with a thirdpulley 51 rotatably mounted upon the shaft in the housing 53 which, inthis case, comprises one wall 53 made of celluloid,

' :;yloni teor.other suitable transparent material, and in this case thepointer, or indicator, 54 is connected directly to the pulley 51. Thispulley houses a spring 55 having one end secured to the pulley and theother end secured to the shaft 52. In'this construction, as the float 30moves upwardly,

too

till

spring: '55,. pulling 'uponthe cable r 29%,; causes the pulley v51, .48:and: A58: :to: rotate until: the:

slack in both :the cables 129 and 29? is taken up.. Inthis case, as intheprevious one, the weight ofthefloat 30 is: suflicient to tension thespring but the tension of this spring is insufficient to lift, the floatfrom the surface of the fuel in the tank.

In that embodiment of my invention shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10, thefull up and down dimension of the rear window is used as an indicatingscale, indicia numbers 56 being printed thereon to indicate the level ofthe fuel or the quantity of the fuel in the tank. In this embodiment ofmy invention the cable 29 connects the float 30 and a large pulley 57carried in the housing 33,

secured to the lower rail of the rear window.v

A smaller pulley 58 is integrally formed with, or otherwise rigidlysecured to, the pulley 57 and both of these pulleys are mounted upon ashaft 59 carried by the housing 33. A cable 29 connects the small pulley58 with a third pulley 60 carried by a housing 61, secured by means ofscrews 62, or in any other desired manner, to the upper rail of the rearwindow. This pulley is rotatably mounted upon a screw 63, or a suitableshaft, and houses a spring 64, one end of which is secured to the screw63 and the other end of which issecured to the rim of the pulley 60. Anindicator 65 is secured to the cable 29 and moves over the indicia 56.This indicator may be provided with an opening 66 through which theindicia can be read.

In the last described embodiment of my invention the sizes of thepulleys 57 and 58 are such that when the float 30 moves from the top tothe bottom of the tank, the indicator 65 will move from the top to thebottom of the window. Any slack developed in either of the cables willimmediately be taken up through the action of the spring 64 upon thepulley 60.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have provided agauge that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, freefrom excessive friction and not likely to get out of order. It will alsobe apparent that the indicator of this gauge can be seen either from theexterior or the interior of the car. It should, however, be noted thatthe rear vision mirror 24 may be dispensed with. This simply means thatthe operator, in order to observe the posit-ion of the indicator, needmerely turn his head.

lVhile I have described the details of construction of the preferredembodiment of my invention, it is to be clearly understood that myinvention is not limited to these detailsbut is capable of otheradaptations and modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

. "I claim is having a reanwindow and a fuel tanleat. therear, ofmovable means in'saidfltank res sponsive tozthe depth of fuel therein,an'ins dica ting. device silhouetted against :said :winrdow, saidindicating devices having a smaller range of movement than saiddepth-responsive means, and means for connecting range of movement thansaid depth respon- I sive means, and means for connecting said depthresponsive means with said indicating devices comprising means forcompensating for the differences in the range of movement of saidindicating device and said depth-responsive means. 1

3. The combination with an automotive vehicle comprising a body having arear window, a fuel tank below said rear window, and a drivers seat, ofmeans in said tank responsive to changes in the level of the fueltherein, a movable indicating device adjacent and silhouetted againstsaid window, and means for connecting said first-named means with saidindicating device.

4. The combination with an automotive vehicle comprising a body having arear window, and a fuel tank below said rear window, of means in saidtank responsive to changes in the level of the fuel therein, anindicating device adjacent said window and having a movable indicatormember silhouetted against the window and means .operatively connectingsaid device with said level-1esponsive means.

5. The combination with an automotive vehicle comprising a body havinga. rear window, a fuel tank adjacent the rear'end of said body, and adrivers seat, ofmeans in said tank responsive to changes in the level ofthe fuel therein, and an indicating device located to the rear of thedrivers seat and visible in outline by one occupying said seat andlooking through the rear window, said device being operatively connectedwith said fuel level-responsive means.

'6. The combination with an automotive vehicle having a rear window anda fuel tank at the rear, of movable means in said fuel tank responsiveto changes in the level of the fuel therein, an indicating devicesilhouetted against therear window, and con- Having thusdescribedmycinvention', avhat 1'. The a combination with an automobilenections between said level responsive means means in said tank andmeans connecting the and said indicating device. level-responsive means.with the indicating 7 The combination with an automotive device to causethe indicating device to move 10 vehicle having a fuel tank and a windowwith variations'in the fuel level. 5 above said tank, of an indicatingdevice In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe silhouetted against saidWindow and visible my name this 23d day of September, 1925. from bothsides thereof, fuel level responsive EARL F. PIERCE.

